


tired days and waves

by sweetlyinfinite



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-08-13
Packaged: 2017-12-23 09:02:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/924496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetlyinfinite/pseuds/sweetlyinfinite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam has tired days and Zayn hates the waves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tired days and waves

**Author's Note:**

> For my younger sister, even though this means nothing to her.

Zayn has always been jealous and possessive and Liam hasn't, Liam's never been because he's always shared and smiled and Zayn doesn't know how to do that. 

Liam is his even if he isn't just yet and Zayn wants Liam and the world to know that he's Zayn's and no one else's but he isn't so Zayn sits and fumes and watches all the time. 

Liam always grins, he does, but whenever he turns around for just a moment his eyes are on Zayn because where else would they be and then he beams, only at Zayn, and it's somehow softer than before and Zayn wants to kiss him and it always goes that way and it's.

It's that Zayn isn't sure how to breathe properly around Liam and Liam breathes just fine, breaths going a little heavy when he sleeps and Zayn doesn't mind the dense puffs of air with the weight of Liam covering his side in the warmth of a shared bed, whether it be Zayn's or Liam's or a pull-out couch and Zayn wishes he did. It's that when they're 30 Zayn wants them to live by the seaside with two kids and a dog and smell like salt and be able to feel grains of sand in his hair after a day in the water and Zayn'd be sore so Liam puts their kids to bed and then gets Zayn in the shower and washes his hair and body and soul clean, and then when they wake up the next day they make pancakes with berries and syrup and lemons and sugar and have a picnic at the park under the cool shade of a tree while their dog chases everything and nothing and they're happy. It's that when Zayn falls asleep, he wants to feel secure and whole and home and Liam is all of those things and Liam. It's that Zayn loves Liam with the kind of love people express through stars and clouds and candy and explosions but also with small looks and quiet touches and the way Zayn lets Liam dog-ear the books he borrows when Zayn thinks that's criminal. It's that Zayn loves Liam and Liam doesn't love Zayn. (It's the last one more than anything.) 

It's a Friday when Zayn wants to give up. Give up his mysterious persona, give up on doing his hair in ridiculous quiffs, give up pretending Liam isn't what he gets out of bed for, and give up the way the smell of smoke seems to linger heavy on his skin.

He dresses in tight jeans and a Batman shirt and is driving to the university he's attended for a year now. His hair is draped softly across his forehead and he has a pair of Ray-Bans on but that's only to shield his eyes from the sun. 

When Zayn's finally parked his car he thinks he forgets how to breathe for a minute as he freaks out. His thoughts are flitting about insanely but he knows what's going on and then he's out of his shitty car and sprinting away from his life and towards something better. 

It must be fate (it's always been fate, ever since Liam tripped and landed on Zayn and got them all muddy in grade seven, though Zayn thinks fate is silly and unpredictable even though it's the exact opposite) (Liam thinks fate is brilliant and guiding and reminds him of cold mornings with warm coffee) because as soon as he starts running he sees Liam a fair distance away, smiling quietly at a boy Zayn's never seen before and yeah, Zayn stomach drops dramatically and clichéd but he starts heading toward Liam, pushing through clumps of people that seem to be sticking to each other like an Australian candy his friend brought him back called Red Skins. 

"Liam!" Zayn says as his feet stop and his voice is louder than it was supposed to be.

"Zayn?" Liam shifts his eyes from the boy with a snapback and he looks frozen and sleepy. 

"Zayn?" the boy questions, voice Irish and sounding like he's heard of Zayn and is asking if this is the Zayn he knows of. 

Zayn disregards him, eyes wide and looking like hazel moons and his body is faced directly towards Liam. "Liam fucking Payne. I think I love you. Well, no. I know I love you because every morning I think about the way your eyelashes would flutter when you woke up and the chocolate shade of gooey brown your eyes would be as you blinked away from the sun and I wonder if your nose would scrunch up at the light streaming through the gaps in the curtains. I think about us arguing over what bed spread we want, you wanting something light and fresh and blue and me wanting something creamy and warm and honey. When I can't sleep I wonder if you can't either, and if we were in love and there together if you would sing Andrew Belle to me because he sounds wonderful but you sound better. I think about you being what represents my home and my safety and how warm your arms are and us running together and being slippery with sweat. I think about living bright and cold but cozy and soft and creating memories over the shadows of old ones and I just fucking love you, Liam." 

Liam blinks. The lad standing next to him starts cackling. Two other guys approach them and one of their hair is floppy like Zayn's but caramel and the other's is dark and held back by an American themed scarf. They're holding hands and smiling. 

"Who's this, Niall?" one asks the Irish boy.

Niall seems to not care about Zayn's profession at all, but he says, "Louis, Harry, mates, this is Zayn!" in between his laughter and then, "He totally loves Liam!" 

The man, Louis, begins to giggle as well, hand slipping out of Harry's to cover his mouth in an attempt to stop, and Harry grins like he's been in prison for years and is finally free.

Zayn looks away from them back to Liam whose eyes are still on Zayn and they haven't left (as if they never have) and he looks as though he wants to droop into a puddle at Zayn's feet. 

Liam's eyes are watery and soft. "I love you too, Zayn. And maybe I can't say it how you said it and maybe you were joking but I think about those things too and I just fucking love you, Zayn." 

Harry and Louis and Niall stop laughing and they watch quietly as Zayn grins and somehow he manages to get his arms around Liam's neck and his legs around Liam's hips and his lips on Liam's lips. Liam's hands are high on the sides Zayn's thighs propping him up and his legs are firmly on the ground and his lips are under Zayn's. 

Zayn tastes soft and heated and as though there's a fire in his mouth, and Liam tastes untouched and slow and like Zayn's dreams with an undercurrent of mint and banana. Zayn feels electric and flowing and he hasn't felt this way since he was seventeen and he got his first tattoo. 

They break apart and they look at the others face and Liam sees hope and joy and surprise and love in Zayn's eyes and Zayn sees hot days and melted ice cream and sticky fingers and sweaty nights cuddled up tightly in Liam's arms and trapped by the tangled limbs of legs Zayn created and that's how it is, is all.

**Author's Note:**

> Zayn and Liam get a house by the beach and Liam teaches Zayn to surf. Liam has days where his eyes aren't as new and shiny and hopeful and Zayn has days where he doesn't want to hear the sounds of the fucking waves crashing on the shore. Zayn holds Liam and Liam holds Zayn because they've become each other's foundation and the waves are soothing when Zayn can't hear them breaking.


End file.
